It's a deal
by Mystrothedefender
Summary: Bruce is in Arkham, struggling to keep himself afloat, Joker has a solution but Bruce will have to set aside his morals.
1. Chapter 1

**My first bat/joker story in ages omg... I'm hoping to make it 4/5 chapters long, I hope you like it.**

Bruce sat in his cell, the third week running, dreading the two hours that he'd be forced to spend with the other inmates. The wait was worse than anything, sickening, inducing an anxiety he'd never felt before. He could defend himself well enough once he was out there, but knowing what was out there, knowing that the second those doors were opened he would be set upon like a rabbit amongst starving dogs. It was exhausting both mentally and physically.

Some of the guards would try to help him of course, they knew him before his fall from grace, from before the accident that'd cost his former best friend his life. But they could never watch him the entire time, and Bruce refused to stick too close to them; it'd put them in danger too.

He felt a jolt in his gut as a guard banged loudly on his cell door, the metal flap lowering to allow the man to see inside.

"Time to go Mr Wayne," he said sympathetically, that tone made Bruce's stomach turn more than anything, as if they were sorry for him.

He could defend himself he didn't need that condescension.

With a depressed huff he got up from his seat, walking to the door and waiting for the grinding noises that meant the door was being unlocked, he grit his teeth as the sounds echoed around the room, looking up as the door opened.

"Follow me," the guard said, sticking close to him as they walked down the long hall towards the rec room.

The guard looked back at him, shifting slightly, his mouth twitching as if he wanted to tell him.

"What?" Bruce asked, looking him up and down, knowing he'd speak with the slightest provocation.

The guard let out a small exhale, pausing and looking back at him, "I'm not meant to tell you yet."

"Just tell me Gerard."

The guard shifted on his feet, "It's the Joker, he's allowed in the rec room again, from today, and he's in the same time slot as you."

"What?" Bruce growled, frowning, his teeth gritting slightly, "That…" he shook his head, at a loss for what to say; why would anyone be stupid enough to put them in the same time slot?

"I know," the guard said, an odd pleading to his voice, "It's an error or something it has to be. I've put in an inquiry but I've not heard anything back yet, it's only been 5 hours."

Joker hadn't been allowed in the rec room along with the other inmates for almost a month due to self-inflicted injuries. What he'd done to himself Bruce didn't know, and why he'd done it no one seemed to know either, Bruce couldn't figure it out.

Part of him suspected that he'd done it to himself after finding out that Batman had been unmasked, but that didn't quite make sense.

"It's ok," Bruce said, mainly to calm himself, "I can handle him."

The guard smiled weakly, standing by the door to the rec room and pressing the button that unlocked the door. "No doubt about it sir. I'll stay close anyway though."

Bruce frowned at him, "Don't," he said firmly, walking in as the door opened, looking round and seeing Joker, already sat on one of the chairs that lined the room.

The man stared at him, as if stunned. Bruce tried to keep himself calm as he found the book he'd been reading and found a seat for himself.

He felt himself become hyper aware, every single sense of his buzzing at what he thought was imminent danger.

The hairs on his neck stood on end as Joker left his seat, all his muscles tensing as the pale man walked over.

Something about him seemed different; his lips were capped, not their usual bright red, his eyes lacked their usual sparkle.

He tried to hold back a jolt as Joker sat next to him, leaning over on his arm rest.

"How's this mask treating you?" the clown asked, smiling.

Bruce tried to ignore him, but being this close was unnerving, he could smell the sweetness of his breath, somehow it always smelled of apples.

"Ugh," Joker said, flicking his wrist and leaning back in his seat, "You're no fun," he smiled, "I've missed that."

Bruce shuddered at the shrill sound of his voice, trying to remain calm and read his book, starting the paragraph over again.

"Batsy," Joker whined, "Please… don't do this to me, don't ignore me."

Bruce felt his gut clench at the word 'Batsy', he'd always hated how Joker said that. He looked up as the guard walked up to them.

"Are you ok?" the man asked, the question directed at Bruce.

Bruce felt Joker's gaze leave him, fixing on the guard, fire in his eyes. "Yes," Bruce said sternly, "We're just catching up."

He turned his head to look at Joker as the guard walked off. "What do you want?"

Joker smiled widely, clasping his hands together and letting out a small squeak as Bruce spoke to him. "Oh, Batman I don't know where to start!" he turned to face him, crossing his legs in a strange uncomfortable looking position. "Firstly, the voice," he shook his head, "I can't stand you talking like that, please go back to normal, also this name you're using? 'Bruce'? What is that?" he chuckled weakly. "I have _missed_ you terribly."

Bruce frowned, "This is my normal voice Joker…" he shook his head, closing his eyes briefly as he realised how stupid he sounded, "I'm not going to argue with you."

Joker grinned toothily, "There's my good boy." He shifted on his seat, looking around the room, "So… I overheard a few of my old thugs talking, there're waiting until the guard goes to the bathroom, then they're going to uh, jump you, for want of a better word." He locked eyes with a burly man across the room, "That's one of them there. I don't know exactly where the rest are."

Bruce looked up at the man, gritting his teeth, he recognised him… He'd been so focussed on Joker's whereabouts that he'd not noticed anyone else. He was slipping.

"Why are you telling me?"

Joker looked back at him, smiling softly, almost lovingly, "I've almost lost you once already, Bats, and it nearly killed me. I won't let it happen again…. not because of these morons at least." He frowned deeply at the man, still staring at them. "You keep on walking Theo," he said sternly, watching as the man scurried away, letting out a small chuckle.

Bruce swallowed hard, a hard frown on his face, "Why are you doing this?"

"…I just told you why."

Bruce looked up at the space where the man had been, someone he'd fought before, someone who he'd had a lot of trouble with. Joker made him leave so easily, scurry away like an injured animal.

He bit his lip, his heart pounding in his ears as the thought formed in his head. "I have a proposition for you," he said slowly.

Joker leaned over slightly, letting out a small hum, "What's that then sweetie?" he asked with genuine interest.

"I'll talk with you, spend time with you, if you continue to keeps those men away from me."

Joker nodded gently, smiling to himself, "Ok," he said happily, rocking slightly where he sat. "Oh that sounds great," he paused for a moment, "You know I uh, I can keep those guys away pretty easy… I can keep the big guys away too, it's harder though," he glanced at him, his smile widening, "I might need a little more than the occasional _chat_ to make it worth my while."

Bruce felt himself tense slightly, the darker parts of his mind immediately conjuring up scenarios, disgusting and depraved things that Joker might ask him to do. "Like what?"

The man smiled widely, his tongue brushing over his lips as he leaned in to speak, his tone hushed, "Sex," he stated briefly.

Bruce recoiled, frowning; that was one of the worse things that had previously come to mind. "No," he snapped instantly, "No, Joker."

With that his picked himself up from his seat, walking to the other side of the room and sitting down, deciding then that that would be the last time they'd speak.

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	2. Chapter 2

**The views /reviews I got on the first chapter of this is proof why you shouldn't leave a fandom for 2 years lol**

 **If you wanna read more of my (old) bat/joker stuff I suggest going on my AO3 account, I have the same username there.**

Bruce walked down the hall, towards the rec room, delirious from lack of sleep, almost stumbling.

He'd found it impossible to sleep the past week or so, absolutely impossible. He'd never noticed how loud Arkham was before, there was always so much noise, it was unbearable.

He found it hard enough to sleep normally, he could operate perfectly well on 3 or 4 hours sleep per night, but lately he'd not been getting as much as that.

It was getting louder, he was sure of it. Before he knew it they were at the door to the room, the guard looking at him, concern in his eyes.

"I can request you to go to the infirmary?" the man bit his lip "You don't look well Mr Wayne, if they see you looking like this then they'll…" he shook his head briefly.

Bruce let out a small breath, closing his eyes. Part of him didn't want to, he was fine, just sleep deprived, but…

"Ok," he heard himself say.

He just wanted to sleep.

The infirmary was just as loud as the rest of the place, but there was a chance he'd get a few minutes more sleep and that was all he needed.

The guard led him to the infirmary, the walk there was just a blur, he could barely take it, he needed to lie down and sleep, the constant worry was getting to him, now he just wanted to sleep.

"Doctor, Mr Wayne needs a bed, I think he's suffering from exhaustion or something," the guard said, looking at Bruce, "Just for today."

The doctor sighed softly and nodded, "Fine," she looked at Bruce, "But just for today, I don't have enough beds for you to come in every day to escape the other inmates."

"I don't plan on it," Bruce growled, frowning softly. He let the doctor show him to one of the beds, he lay down as she pulled the curtain around the bed.

It was quieter in here, thankfully, still loud but it was definitely quieter, or maybe it was the presence of doctors making him feel more at ease.

He just wanted to sleep.

"If you do need to come in again," the doctor said, "Ask for Maddie, Mr Wayne."

"That's you?" Bruce asked dumbly, far too sleepy to process anything.

The doctor nodded, "Yeah."

Bruce let out a soft groan, pulling the soft white sheets over himself and pressing his head back into the pillow.

"You're gunna be ok Bruce, just get some sleep."

Sleep came so easily to him, within seconds of his anxiety and stress dropping he was gone. To him it felt like a few seconds had passed, but he opened his eyes he could tell it had been a few hours. He blinked rapidly and lifted his head, turning over to see Joker sitting by his bed.

He inhaled through shock and sat up straighter, "What are you doing here?" he growled softly.

"Oh just…" he shrugged, "Taking care of you," he patted the bed, smiling softly at Bruce.

Bruce pulled his knees up, sitting up fully and looking around, "The doctor..?"

"She's fine," Joker said quietly, "She doesn't know I'm here."

"Why are you here?" Bruce said again, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"I told you, sleepy baby bat," he chuckled, "I'm taking care of you."

"How are you taking care of me?"

Joker licked his lips, leaning back in his seat, "Well, you've had a couple of visitors while you've been asleep, I simply… told them where to go."

"What?"

Joker shrugged, "I don't know what else you want me to tell you. A few guys I know came here trying to beat you up, I told them that if they tried I would remove their testicles and choke them with them."

"Why would you do that?"

The other man let out a small laugh, patting the bed again and smiling, "I'm not going to tell you again Batsy. Now, you just go back to sleep."

"I'm not sleeping with you here," Bruce growled, frowning.

"Why not? I'm not going to hurt you, and you look so cute when you sleep," he chuckled.

Bruce shook his head and swung his legs of the bed, smoothing down his assigned inmate trousers as he got up, pulling back the curtain and letting out a small gasp, seeing the bodies of the doctor and two inmates lying on the floor.

"What the…?" he looked back at Joker, baring his teeth, "You told me you didn't hurt them."

"I didn't," Joker said, getting to his feet, "You can check if you want, they're fine, the doctor will wake up soon, then the inmates after her… assuming I got the doses right that is…" he shrugged, "I think I did."

Bruce turned to face him, shaking his head slightly, "Why did you do this?"

Joker smiled, walking slowly up to him, "Well, I heard those two boys planning to attack the doctor, and then you, and of course the doctor wouldn't let me in, so I had to deal with her, then these idiots came in and I dealt with them, not before I told them what would happen if they tried to get to you again, that is."

Bruce looked back down at the bodies in silence, swallowing hard before bending down to check they were indeed alive and well, which they were.

"Did you doubt I was telling the truth?" Joker asked, walking to him and running his hand over his shoulder.

Bruce shrugged him off, getting back up and looking at him, the cogs turning in his mind; if Joker hadn't dealt with these two men, who knows what would have happened, that doctor probably would have been injured at the very least.

He let out a weak exhale, turning his eyes to Joker again, "Thank you," he said begrudgingly.

"So..?" Joker cooed with an almost expectant smile.

"So what?" Bruce replied, a hard frown coming to his face at Joker's tone.

Joker swayed on his feet, "Have you considered my deal..?"

Bruce grit his teeth, his boy tensing as much as it had when the idea was first mentioned.

"Come on…" Joker purred, "What if I hadn't overheard, you would have been stabbed in your sleep, and who _knows_ what would have happened to this lovely lady."

Bruce looked down at the doctor, sickness rising in his stomach. That sounded almost like a threat.

"It would have been a shame too," Joker said with a shrug, "I've heard she's a new mother," he shook his head slightly, chewing his lip, "God knows why she works here, it's so dangerous."

Bruce swallowed hard, frowning and looking back at Joker, he couldn't take this anymore, if it meant he could get some sleep, if it meant he and those who worked here would be safe…

"Fine, I agree," he said, acid in his tone.

Joker smiled widely, clasping his hands together, "Oh goody, that's fantastic news," he smiled, moving slightly closer to him and looking him up and down, "Why don't we kiss to close the deal..?"

Bruce grot his teeth, letting out a slow exhale, watching Joker look him over as if her were a piece of meat.

"Fine," he repeated with the same tone of disgust.

Joker swayed slightly, taking Bruce by the hip and pressing their lips softly together, closing his eyes, a knot forming in his stomach.

Bruce grit his teeth tight as Joker kissed him, feeling his fists clench, the overwhelming want to punch him flooding him, being quickly replaced by sickness as he suppressed the want. He pulled away, gasping softly, swallowing hard to stop himself throwing up.

What had he agreed to..?

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